Elevated floor for clean room



Jan. 30, 1968 J. MADL, JR 3,366,013

ELEVATED FLOOR FOR CLEAN ROOM Filed Aug. 1, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. JOXEPH MADL, JR. BY Jfiafl'ow ATTORIVE Y 0m 000000 W I MN, 000v c00000 00 NM c 000? 0 0000 0 0 occh O OOGOr LOOOOOF C OG 00 0.000 0000000 NN 000 00 00 00000 (0000006 @000 00 m x NF M fi M Q Jan. 30, 1968 .1. MADL, JR

ELEVATED FLOOR FOR CLEAN ROOM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 1, 1966 INVENTOR. JOSEPH MADL, #2.

United States Patent 3,366,013 ELEVATED FLOOR FGR CLEAN ROOM Joseph Mad], Jr., 990 Volante Drive, Arcadia, Calif. 91006 Filed Aug. 1, 1966, Ser. No. 569,201 7 Claims. (Cl. 98-31) This invention relates to an elevated floor structure for clean rooms; i.e., enclosed areas in which a ceiling-tofioor flow of clean or treated air is provided.

An object of the invention is to provide a floor construction for critically controlling air flow therethrough, primarily downwardly, but also upwardly, in specialized areas, to effect different patterns of flow at different portions of the areas. In hospital rooms, as the surgeries, delivery and recovery rooms, in laboratories, precision manufacturing, assembly and testing areas, in areas of the drug and chemical industry, and other such places where control of both particulate matter and microorganisms is important, the present floor structure constitutes a means for effecting flow control, as above characterized.

Another object of the invention is to provide a modular floor component that is independently adjustable to control air flow therethrough, thereby enabling different areas of the floor to be differently adjusted for variable rates of flow, as desired.

A further object of the invention is to provide a modular floor component that is independently adjustable by manipulation of a single adjustment means, thereby enabling particularized control of the different components in a rapid and facile manner.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a floor component, as characterized, embodying a singlecontrol adjustable damper unit that is centered on an airpassing orifice of the component top with the adjuster for the unit accessible through said orifice, said orifice being centered on the floor component and the damper unit being balanced on the adjustable control.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The above objects are realized in a floor structure comprised of a plurality of modular, preferably square or rectangular components that are arranged in edge-abutted longitudinal and transverse rows and supported on a pedestal-provided gridlike frame which, per se, does not comprise part of this invention, and merely illustates an exemplary manner of supporting the components by their peripheral edges.

Each floor component is provided with an orifice-provided floor panel, a marginal frame and intersecting support ribs stiffening said panel, a set of fixed damper members disposed in spaced parallelism and supported from said marginal frame, a complementary set of ad justable damper members beneath the fixed damper members, and an adjustable connection mounting the adjustable members from a central point of the fixed portions of the component, whereby the adjustment of the damper means of said component is effected by a single means, the structure being such that the adjustable damper members are retained in balance relative to the fixed portions of the component. A variation contemplates the provision of a filter panel interposed between the orificeprovided floor plate and the damper means.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description and which is based on the ac- 3,366,913 Patented Jan. 30, 1968 companying drawings. However, said drawings merely show, and the following description merely describes, preferred embodimnets of the present invention, which are given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawings, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a broken plan view of a floor according to the present invention, the elements thereof being broken away in different stages to show the various features of the construction.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view as taken on the plane of line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view in a transverse plane, taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2, of one of the components of said floor.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged and fragmentarly cross-sectional view as taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a similarly enlarged and fragmentary sectional view showing a detail of construction.

FIG. 6 is a broken plan view showing the center of one of the components of the floor.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary cross-sectional detail view of a modification.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the present floor comprises a plurality of floor components 10 of rectangular form and arranged in edge-abutted longitudinal and transverse rows, supported by a grid that is comprised of longitudinal and transverse channels 11 that are spaced according to the length and width dimensions of said components so as to form supports that engage the marginal edges of the components, with said edges in abutted relation, as shown. The following description of one of said components 10 will serve to describe the others, it being understood that in structures in which said components are square, the same may be installed without regard to the diretcion of the damper vanes, unless a special condition dictates that said vanes be specifically oriented.

As shown in FIG. 2, pedestal tubes 12 or like floorelevating members, by means of clamps 13, may be connected to the channels 11 where desired. This floor-supporting means does not, per se, form part of the present invention.

The present floor component comprises, generally, a floor panel 15 that is either square or rectangular, fixed damper means 16 carried by said floor panel, preferably on a plane below the bottom of said panel, vertically adjustable damper means 17 below the damper means 16, and a single adjuster 18 located at the center of the floor panel and mounted on the fixed damper means, to effect air flow control through the component in either direction by adjusting the damper means 17 vertically toward and from the damper means 16.

The floor panel 15, preferably of steel, comprises a rectangular floor plate 29 that is provided with a plurality of orifices 21 that are arranged in intersecting rows, as indicated in FIG. 1. The orifices are preferably omitted at the margins of said plate but may, if desired, be provided over the entire surface.

A frame 22, shown as having a Z-section form, is welded or similarly secured to the marginal edges of the plate 20, said frame having web walls 23 that are vertical, and inturned flanges 24. Said frame 22 stiffens the panel 15 around the margins thereof, and setS of intersecting ribs 25, as needed, support intermediate portions of the plate 20. In this case, two ribs, extending in each direction and having the vertical extent of the web walls 23, are shown.

The fixed damper means 16 is shown as comprising a plurality of damper vanes 26 connected, at their opposite ends, to plates 27 at opposite sides of the panel 15 and extending downwardly from the associated flanges 24 of the frame 22 of said panel. Each plate 27 is provided with an outturned flange 28 that is below the mentioned frame flanges 24. The damper vanes 26 at the ends of the gridlike damper means above described, are formed with portions 29 that combine with the flanges 28 to form a rectangular frame arrangement conforming in size and shape to the rectangular arrangement of the flanges 24.

The damper means 16 includes two pairs of adjustable units 36 that are mounted on the web walls 23 which are transverse to the damper vanes 26 and are in vertical register with two of the damper vanes 26. Each said unit comprises a bracket 31 welded to the mentioned walls 23 and provided with vertically spaced horizontal walls 31 that extend beyond the flanges 24 over the ends of said registering vanes. Oversize holes 32 are formed in said walls 31. Nuts 33 are disposed in the spaces 34 between the walls 31 of each unit, the same having extensions 35 that limit nut rotation by engaging stop portions of said units. Screws 36 rotationally extend through the ends of the damper vanes 26 in register with said units 30 and are in threaded engagement with said nuts. Said screws, when turned, lock the fixed damper means in adjusted position, as permitted by the oversize holes 32.

Said vanes 26 are formed of angle members that have flanges which slope downwardly in directions toward adjacent vanes, an elongated air-passing space 37 being defined between adjacent vanes, as best seen in FIG. 2.

The vertically adjustable damper means 17 comprises a plurality of damper vanes 38 similar to the vanes 26 and similarly spaced, and oppositely disposed angles 39 at the opposite ends of said vanes and connecting the same to form a grid-like frame that slidingly fits in the space between the plates 27. Said frame in the direction transverse of the vanes 38, is located by the adjuster 18, so that said vanes are beneath the spaces between the vanes 26 of the fixed means 16. At least one of the vanes 38, at each end thereof, is provided with a retractable pin 40, said pins extending through vertical guide slots 41 in the plates 27, as best seen in FIG. 5.

The adjuster 18 holds the means 17 in the above mentioned position so that air flow through the orifices 21 is guided, first by the fixed damper vanes, and then, by the adjustable damper vanes, all as shown by the arrows of FIG. 2 to pass through the floor component 15, exiting through the spaces 42 into the space below the floor.

Said adjuster 18 is shown as a single nut 43 fixed, as by welds, to the middle of the central vane 38 and preferably within the space defined between the flanges of said central vane. A threaded stud 44 is fitted in said nut and extends upwardly through a collar 45 on a bridge 46 that spans between and is aflixed, as by welds, to the vanes 26 of the means 16 that symmetrically flank the central vane 38 of the means 17. The stud 44 is freely rotational in said collar 45 and is retained in operative position by a cross pin 47 which rests upon the top of said collar.

It will be clear that rotation of said stud 44 will cause the damper means 17 to be raised or lowered, as the case may be, relative to the damper means 16. Such adjustment may be effected by a tool engaging the end of said stud. Thus, it is necessary to first adjust the damper means as a unit, so as to bring said stud in register with an orifice 21, as shown in FIG. 6. After such adjustment, the screws 36 are taken up to lock the means 16 tightly against the flanges 24 of the frame 22. Thus, the fixed operative position of the damper means 16 is obtained, so that the flowcontrolling spacing of the damper means 17 from said means 16 may be eifected by manipulation of the single adjuster 18.

As can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 3, the adjuster has a central location, and the grid frame of the damper means 17 has a balanced disposition, as guided by the pins 40, between the plates 27 between which said means 17 vertically moves.

It will be understood that the vanes 38 can be brought into flow-closing engagement with the vanes 26, or to any adjusted position within the limits of the operative length of the stud 44.

It may be desired to filter the air passing through the floor, accordingly, a sheet of filter material 43, as shown in FIG. 7, may be interposed between the flanges 24 and 28.

While the foregoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, the constructions are, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is not desired to restrict the invention to the particular forms of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described this invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An air-passing floor component for clean rooms comprising:

(a) a rectangular panel having an orifice-provided top plate, and a marginal frame fixedly mounting said plate,

(b) upper damper means below said panel,

(c) laterally adjustable means inter-connecting said damper means and panel,

(d) lower damper means, and

(e) a single adjuster connecting the two damper means and supporting the lower means from the former means,

(f) said adjuster being operable through one of the orifices of the top plate to adjust the lower damper means vertically relative to the upper damper means.

2. A floor component according to claim 1 in which the laterally adjustable means comprising adjustable units carried by the floor component below the top plate thereof, said units extending laterally over opposite ends of the upper damper means, each unit being provided with a lock screw connected with said opposite ends of the upper damper.

3. A floor component according to claim 1, both damper means being provided with parallel and transversely spaced flow-directing vanes, the vanes of one said means being located in planes between the vanes of the other said means.

4. A floor component according to claim 1 in which the upper damper means is provided with a plurality of parallel damper vanes, and with a pair of opposed parallel plates connecting the ends of said vanes to provide said upper means with a grid-like form, the lower adjustable damper means being guided between said plates.

5. A floor component according to claim 4 in which the single adjuster is centrally positioned by the laterally adjustable means to locate the same in vertical register with a centrally located orifice in the mentioned top-plate.

6. A floor component according to claim 5 in which said opposed plates have vertical slots in register with the opposite ends of one of the lower damper vanes, and oppositely retractable pins on the opposite ends of one of the vanes of the lower damper means being guided in said slot.

7. A floor component according to claim 6 in which the lower damper means comprises the mentioned vanes and opposite, transverse angles connecting the opposite ends of the lower vanes.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1963 Kurek 98-36 4/1967 Knab 983l 

1. AN AIR-PASSING FLOOR COMPONENT FOR CLEAN ROOMS COMPRISING: (A) A RECTANGULAR PANEL HAVING AN ORIFICE-PROVIDED TOP PLATE, AND A MARGINAL FRAME FIXEDLY MOUNTING SAID PLATE, (B) UPPER DAMPER MEANS BELOW SAID PANEL, (C) LATERALLY ADJUSTABLE MEANS INTER-CONNECTING SAID DAMPER MEANS AND PANEL, 